History

Did you know?

In 1969, the number one song in America was by a band who actually didn't exist.
pic.twitter.com/aNMByuqCgh

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 11, 2026

 

An Insight

Food for thought. pic.twitter.com/Kv6v5tYanI

— Mary J. Ruwart Ph.D. (@MaryRuwart) March 11, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

Bill Evans gives me a kind of peace nothing else quite reaches. pic.twitter.com/vMV9plNalY

— Melodies & Masterpieces (@SVG__Collection) March 10, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

Jewish mother: "So, no law degree?" https://t.co/E11TyKkABR

— Daniel Sugarman (@Daniel_Sugarman) March 10, 2026

 

It’s hard to tell just what systems are communicating with other systems on which ports.

A variant on Hayek's Problem of Knowledge.  When authoritarian or totalitarian systems seek to impose on complex dynamic systems, you almost always have unintended consequences.  From Russia Cracks Down On VPNs, Brings Down Banks by Lawrence Person.

Here’s another example of the “new” Russia acting a whole lot like the old Soviet Union. Mere individuals will not be allowed to keep secrets from the glorious state, comrade.

But the Soviet Union barely lasted into the Internet age. Its communications infrastructure was built from the ground-up to spy on citizens, with entire floors dedicated to KGB agents constructed above telephone exchanges. It’s quite a different task to try to tap today’s vast array of encrypted digital communication channels. Ordinary companies frequently have a tough time locking down their own digital infrastructure, because it’s hard to tell just what systems are communicating with other systems on which ports.

Now scale up the problem to an entire nation that’s been cut out of the world financial system for waging an illegal war of territorial aggression, and a tyrannical government blocking vast swathes of what Internet is left in the name of information control like Hans Gruber’s minion chainsawing through the Nakatomi Tower’s trunk cables in Die Hard. All sorts of things you want to keep working are going to break.

I also suspect the attempt to be a futile one, at least for VPN users. I suspect the technical minds behind those are far more adept than the government censors trying to block them.

Data Talks

Le 11 mars 1811, un enfant naît à Saint-Lô, en Normandie. Son père est fonctionnaire.

À Polytechnique, on lui refuse le poste de chimiste qu'il convoite. On lui propose l'astronomie. Il accepte, faute de mieux.

En 1845, un problème rend fous les astronomes d'Europe : la planète… pic.twitter.com/PHnkgrkjDF

— Ce jour-là dans l'Histoire (@CeJour_Histoire) March 11, 2026

 

Winter, St Ives, 2013 by David Inshaw

Winter, St Ives, 2013 by David Inshaw (England, 1943 - )

Click to enlarge.

History

Malthus was actually right - but only for the pre-capitalist era. Prior to 1700 in the West (and prior to mid-20th century in the East), each time humanity had a population boom, it was followed by a bust.

The problem is that Malthus was no Schumpeter. He wasn't even an Adam… pic.twitter.com/a8VnaIWw2f

— Sanjeev Sabhlok (@sabhlok) March 11, 2026

 

An Insight

Yes, when I was in the submarine force on Sundays underway we had surf & turf.

Why was that? Because once a week we got to have a somewhat nicer meal as a reward for SPENDING YEARS OF OUR LIVES UNDERWATER so that people could make stupid points about non-news like this. https://t.co/b4XgypP4A3

— Tom Shugart (@tshugart3) March 11, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

In 2014 Dutch scientists left a hamster wheel outside, to see if wild animals would use it like domesticated counterparts.

The answer: hell yes! 734 visits from wild mice, plus rats, shrews, slugs (!) & even frogs and snails.

The apparent reason: fun. Just fun. pic.twitter.com/O7fBhNmxk8

— Mike Sowden (@Mikeachim) March 11, 2026